​​Mission Statement:A movement program that is solidly based on the developmental needs of children can have many school-wide benefits. These include...

Stronger enrollment and retention

Reduced need for remedial services

Reduced teacher “burnout” because classes are more ready for daily academics

Increased parent satisfaction with the school

A childhood rich in varied play and movement strengthens the developmental foundations needed for success in the grades and beyond. Through age-appropriate movement, the child gains basics like: postural control; spatial orientation; movement coordination; the ability to change sight perception instantaneously between three-dimensional and two-dimensional space; good body geography; and confirmed dominance. In seating a student behind a desk, we as teachers and parents are anticipating that the child is physiologically ready, or soon will become ready, for the year’s tasks. But realistically, every child will struggle with some aspect of the academic environment: it might be a challenge to sit in balance, or to listen quietly, or to muster the fine motor skills for writing. Thus, we must remember that through movement, every child can be helped in some way to reach his or her full potential. From early childhood through high school, experience has shown that classes of students who are provided with appropriate daily movement activities are able to move ahead more solidly. Benefits of these activities include:

Foundations for literacy - developmental capacities for all aspects of language.

Foundations for numeracy - the math/logical and spatial intelligences

Readiness for deskwork - enhancing focus and attention; setting the stage for harmonious receptivity to new material.

Bodily/kinesthetic and spatial integration.

Strengthening the will

Announcing a new forum for Extra Lesson and Waldorf support teachersA google group has been formed for Extra Lesson practitioners, and other teachers working remedially out of anthroposophy. The more we all share, ask questions and network, the more helpful this group can be. A google group keeps posts sorted by topic and you can always go back to all responses on a topic by quickly searching for it. If you would like to be added to this group, please send me an email and include a little basic information: Working as an Extra Lesson teacher? yes/noor - as a remedial teacher in a Waldorf school? job title? If neither, school position, i.e. class teacher? Training course - i.e. AHE, HEART, RSC.​

Newer ArticlesHave You Heard About ​Waldorf Education?​by Jeff TunkeyOr, more to the point, WHAT have you heard about Waldorf Education? My teaching friends and I have grinned or grimaced through so many depictions that are funny, off-base, mystifying, mortifying or exasperating that I want to try to ‘set the record straight’. Here are some of the top misconceptions you also may have heard about Waldorf schools and Steiner Education:1. “It’s artistic” or “for artistic children.”2. “It’s unstructured.”3. “It’s for children with learning challenges.”4. “It’s non-academic” (especially the perceived image of our kindergartens).5. “They don’t start reading until third grade.”6. “It’s way behind the times” because we’re still following the 1919 ideas of Rudolf Steiner.And then, we have to deal with the 2015 season finale of The Simpsons television series, in which Homer rebels against Lisa’s desire to attend the fictional Springfield Waldorf School because “everyone at a Waldorf school has to wear a hat.”* Well… there definitely is at least... ​ —> Read article

​Education for Balance and Resilienceby Jeff TunkeyWhy do Waldorf Schools devote so much time – and salary lines! – to specialty subjects like Eurythmy, languages, handwork, woodwork, gardening, form drawing, painting, music and games? On top of that, why is the first twenty minutes or so of the daily main lesson devoted to movement and singing activities that seem sort of non-academic… and then why does the noontime usually include up to an hour for lunch and outdoor play?—> Read pdf A full-page size poster of this graphic is on page 4 of the linked article.

​

Boys and Girls in MovementStereotypes and Archetypes - Balancing Gender Needs in Elementary School Movement, by Jeff TunkeyI believe that boys and girls have different developmental movement needs, needs that should be addressed in our Waldorf classrooms, schoolyards and games classes; that while boys and girls have many developmental-movement needs in common, they also have important differences in the ways they use movement to structurally organize their perception of and contact with the world. My goal in this article is to review perspectives on this vital topic, from a number of informative sources; to see how these seemingly disparate sources might be connected; and, I hope, to inspire further research and discussion at your school. —> Read it

You have to watch this movie!A movie named Buck has changed the way I approach teaching, and I've shown it to numerous teacher development workshops... and many of these teachers have shown it to their faculty meetings. Click this link to go to a page with more info. After you watch it (okay, you don't "have to") I'd appreciate a contact-form reply about whether you liked it. —> Read my review

Articles on this websiteClick the bold CATEGORY name above each listing section to go to a page with summaries of those articles.